Broadcast Music, Inc. v. Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc.

441 U.S. 1, 99 S. Ct. 1551, 60 L.Ed.2d 1 (1979)

Study Aids
Case Briefs Overview
Casebooks
Case Briefs
B
From our private database of 46,300+ case briefs, written and edited by humans—never with AI.

Broadcast Music, Inc. v. Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc.

United States Supreme Court
441 U.S. 1, 99 S. Ct. 1551, 60 L.Ed.2d 1 (1979)

Play video

Facts

Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) (defendant) was established as an intermediary in the market for individual musical compositions. Previously, thousands of owners of the copyrights in musical compositions had difficulty negotiating licensing with individual users and also struggled to detect and police the unlicensed use of the copyrights by infringers. BMI and the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) helped to ameliorate these issues by allowing copyright owners to license their compositions collectively in a blanket license. The blanket license allowed licensees to perform any of the works included in the license. Between BMI and ASCAP, nearly every copyright-protected composition in the United States could be utilized through the blanket licenses. Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc. (CBS) (plaintiff) purchased blanket licenses for its television and radio programming. Believing that the blanket licenses amounted to price fixing and that BMI and ASCAP were unlawful monopolies in the market for composition, CBS brought a lawsuit against BMI and ASCAP, alleging per se antitrust violations. The district court held that the blanket licenses were not per se violations, but the court of appeals reversed, finding that the blanket licenses constituted price fixing. BMI appealed the decision.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (White, J.)

What to do next…

  1. Unlock this case brief with a free (no-commitment) trial membership of Quimbee.

    You’ll be in good company: Quimbee is one of the most widely used and trusted sites for law students, serving more than 806,000 law students since 2011. Some law schools—such as Yale, Berkeley, and Northwestern—even subscribe directly to Quimbee for all their law students.

    Unlock this case briefRead our student testimonials

  2. Learn more about Quimbee’s unique (and proven) approach to achieving great grades at law school.

    Quimbee is a company hell-bent on one thing: helping you get an “A” in every course you take in law school, so you can graduate at the top of your class and get a high-paying law job. We’re not just a study aid for law students; we’re the study aid for law students.

    Learn about our approachRead more about Quimbee

Here's why 806,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:

  • Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
  • The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
  • Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
  • Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.

Access this case brief for FREE

With a 7-day free trial membership
Here's why 806,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
  • Reliable - written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students
  • The right length and amount of information - includes the facts, issue, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents
  • Access in your class - works on your mobile and tablet
  • 46,300 briefs - keyed to 988 casebooks
  • Uniform format for every case brief
  • Written in plain English - not in legalese and not just repeating the court's language
  • Massive library of related video lessons - and practice questions
  • Top-notch customer support

Access this case brief for FREE

With a 7-day free trial membership

Casebooks

Antitrust
Economics and Law
Intellectual Property

Key Terms